House Standing Committee on Defence

Members in attendance

Committee in brief

The House standing committee on defence met to study the readiness of the Canadian Forces. Representatives from the Conference of Defence Associations, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Rideau Institute appeared.

The committee discussed readiness in the Canadian Forces in the context of the Canada First Defence Strategy, potential budgetary cuts, and possible new procurements. The Canada First Defence Strategy (CFDS) tasks the Canadian Forces with the six core missions. Lt.-Gen. Evraire of the Conference of Defence Associations testified that either the government must ensure that the reductions in defence spending allow the CF to continue to follow the CFDS, or the government must re-evaluate the CFDS as needed.

Col. MacDonald, (Ret.) also of the Conference of Defence Associations (CDA) testified that defence spending would need to rise by 5.3 to 7 per cent annually in order to maintain the current level of capital renewal, but the government has called for cuts of 5 to 10 per cent across the government of Canada. Adding that the CFDS did not account properly for capital renewal, nor these proposed budgetary cuts.

Mr. Staples of the Rideau Institute suggested that over five years, the government should return defence spending to pre-9/11 levels, and a 7 to 15 per cent reduction in spending this year. Over five years, the defence budget should be reduced to $15 billion annually through the elimination of the four submarines, the shelving of the F-35s, the re-evaluation of the recent naval procurement, reduction in troop levels, and a review of the CFDS. Col. MacDonald expressed to the committee that the CF needs to procure the upcoming fifth generation stealth fighter, F-35, as a replacement of the current fleet of F-18s in order to respond to the threats that will occur in the near future.

More details? Find out in the Alpheus Group Committee Snapshot. Same day overview of testimony, summary of questions & answers and highlights of committee decisions.

Coming up

The next meeting has yet to be announced. The committee will continue its study of Maintaining Readiness in the Canadian Forces.